Simulators & tools · 4 min read
The business simulators: modes, endings, and how runs are graded
14 companies, one rule set: what Assisted and Challenge modes change, why every run is different, and what teachers can see.
What a simulator is
Each simulator hands you a real-feeling business (a coffee shop, a food truck, a SaaS startup, a gym, and more) for a simulated year. One decision per month, honest economics underneath: the same math the lessons teach (pricing and margin, cash versus profit, churn, capacity, seasonality).
Every run draws a different year: different situations knock, with different numbers attached. But outcomes are never dice. Once a situation is on screen, every consequence follows from your choice and the state you built. The run number on the ending screen makes any year reproducible.
Without an account you can play one full year. The ending screen (the ending, the ledger, and the decision log) opens the moment you create a free account: the run is saved on the device you played it on, and a new account picks it up.
Assisted vs. Challenge mode
Assisted (recommended) gives you guided choices with hint lines and coaching, the best way to learn the ropes.
Challenge removes the training wheels: decisions that hinge on a number or price lose their multiple choice entirely. You type the number you are committing to, and the closest available play runs (the report tells you exactly which). Pure multiple-choice turns lose their hint lines and shuffle their order, and the coaching messages stay quiet.
You pick the mode on the intro screen. If a teacher assigned the simulator, their chosen mode is locked in and the picker is replaced with a note.
Endings and grading
Every simulator has five endings, from out-of-business to its top grade. Grades gate on multiple dimensions (cash AND reputation AND recent profit, for example), so coasting on one number never earns the top tier. Finishing any run, bankruptcy included, counts as a completed run: a finished year is a result.
What teachers see
If a simulator was assigned to you by your organization, finishing a run completes the assignment item and sends the result to your teacher: the ending you earned, the final numbers, the mode you played, and the complete month-by-month decision log. Replaying overwrites with your latest run.
Your run history
The simulators page keeps a history of your finished runs: the latest run of each simulator you have played, with the rest behind "Show all", and one log of every run across the catalog at the bottom of the page. Each row shows the date, the mode, the ending, the final cash and the run number, so any year can be run again.
Any run can be deleted from that history, and your best and run count update to match. The one exception: if a simulator was assigned to you by your organization, runs on it stay on record for your organization and in your history.